This invention is directed to a maceration system used in the grinding and juice extraction of sugar cane and the like by the milling process. It is generally accepted in the industry that the most effective type of maceration is the so called, "Compound Maceration" system whereby the imbibition water is added to the bagasse blanket as it enters the last mill of the milling tandem, and all of the liquid collected from beneath the three rolls of that mill is delivered as maceration onto the pulp or bagasse blanket entering the preceding mill of the tandem. This same process is repeated in turn for each mill in a tandem until the totality of the maceration extracted by all of the mills of the tandem appears as the liquid extracted by the first mill of the tandem as "mixed juice" which is further processed in another section of the sugar factory.
It is generally accepted in the cane sugar industry that the amount of sugar juice recovered from the individual mills of the tandem, as well as by the tandem in its entirety, is directly proportional to the amount of washing given to the bagasse material by the maceration system as it proceeds through the mill tandem. However, in the conventional maceration system, the maximum number of washes is limited to one per mill and, in addition, the flow of maceration liquid is restricted in such systems because of inadequate drainage channels for the juice.